


What Every Girl Should Know

by TextualDeviance



Category: Star Wars, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Gen, Menstruation, Multi, Puberty, Starvation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-01-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:28:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22214059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TextualDeviance/pseuds/TextualDeviance
Summary: Most of Rey's life has been struggle and starvation. Finally getting to eat properly is affecting her body in ways she doesn't entirely understand, and which come with some potential risks. Leia is there to explain.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Finn/Rey
Comments: 4
Kudos: 107





	What Every Girl Should Know

**Author's Note:**

> Vaguely implied Finn/Rey/Poe

The first time it happened, she was 12.

It had been a good season. She had stumbled on a trunk full of never-used hydraulic couplings, and the treasure netted her a three months' supply of rations: Enough to keep her properly nourished for the first time since landing on this blighted sand pit of a planet. She set aside some for leaner times, getting by on just two meals a day instead of three, but the weeks of eating regularly made her feel stronger and more robust than she had been in years. Her body filled out, and she even gained some height. This newfound healthiness was why it was such a shock when she woke one early morning with sweat dappling her face and a pain low in her belly she didn't understand. Thinking perhaps she was simply having a digestive issue, she got up to relieve herself, but as she did, she noticed the spot of blood on her bedding, and then the larger one on her clothes. In a panic, she had cleaned up the best she could and then headed quickly for Niima Outpost's medical droid. The droid wasn't terribly helpful, but its very basic explanation of what was happening, while seeming bizarre, at least reassured her that she wasn't dying.

It happened twice more in the following months, but then her extra food supply ran out, she shed the tiny bit of healthy weight she had put on, and it ceased. It didn't happen again until three years later, and then only sporadically after that. It happened once while she was on Ahch-To: she had come back to her hut one night to see the caretakers, apparently noting that the underclothes they so generously washed for her had been stained, had left a stack of small, absorbent cloths on her bed. As she lay there trying to relax enough to sleep, she practiced her Force mindfulness and found, to her delight, that she could make the pains dull, if not go away entirely. Far more practical than lifting rocks, she decided.

It wasn't until the Resistance had set up their makeshift base on Ajan Kloss, and she let herself enjoy a proper supply of food, that it began happening more often. In the season following their daring escape from Crait, she found herself bleeding quite regularly.

Sitting at her workbench one afternoon, scrubbing rust from spare parts while Leia sat on her bed and they talked, Rey paused briefly as a wave of cramps shot through her abdomen. It took only a moment's concentration to make them fade somewhat, but Leia sensed her pain anyway.

"Ah," she said quietly, with a gentle smile. "It's been years since I had to deal with that. Can't say as I miss it."

Rey was confused. "Years? I don't understand."

"Oh, that's right." Leia gave her a sympathetic look. "Were you friends with any older women on Jakku?"

Rey shook her head. "I knew some here and there, but we weren't really friends. Everyone was always competing with each other, and being too kind could make you let down your guard and lose something."

"I see. And I doubt the medical droids told you all the details." She paused for a moment, searching Rey's face. "You probably don't really know much at all, do you?"

"Know much about what?"

Leia sighed, and scooted closer. "Let me tell you what someone should have explained when you were a girl."

When the general finished, Rey couldn't help but feel astonished. She had understood some of the basics of reproduction before, but only in terms of animals that laid eggs. Mammalian functions in that department seemed downright weird.

Rey heard merry laughter and glanced up. In the clearing nearby, Finn and Poe were sharing some private joke. Rey felt her heart quicken and a warm, electric rush run through her, a feeling she often had when one or both of them were nearby. She now understood a bit more about why. Emotions, she got; she knew she loved them, though Poe really was kind of aggravating sometimes. The physical side of things had always been abstract, however. There were a few other young people on Jakku she'd felt an impulse to get closer to, and she knew how good her body felt when she touched herself in certain ways, but those feelings had always been superseded by the more urgent need for basic survival. And the brief flash she had felt on Ahch-To, when Kylo had appeared in her mind without a shirt, had almost as quickly been wiped away by a surge of revulsion. As she watched her new friends chatting, however, she found herself imagining the pair of them with considerably less clothing, and her breath caught in her chest.

Leia followed her gaze and chuckled softly. "You may want to go see Doctor Kalonia."

Rey turned back, frowning. "What for?"

"There's a med implant she can give you. We should still have some supplies of them."

Rey understood what she was getting at. She looked again at Finn and Poe. The same thrill went through her, but this time, it was coupled with trepidation. Probably best that the clothing stayed on. "Oh. Well, that shouldn't be an issue. I'm not... I don't think I'm going to be doing—"

Leia cut her off with a wave of her hand. "Speaking from my own experience, thinking doesn't come into it," she said wryly. "And believe me, the last thing you want to worry about in the middle of a war is having a child." A dark look passed over her face, and Rey remembered what Luke had told her about their mother. The idea of even getting close enough to someone to touch like that, much less do anything that could result in a pregnancy, seemed almost mythical, but she also knew she should trust Leia's advice.

"All right, then," she said, resolving to see the doctor soon.

Leia stood up. Commander D'Acy was approaching, with a look on her face that read business. "Take care of yourself, Rey," she said. She paused, laying a hand on Rey's arm. Rey felt a stream of Force energy flowing through her, and her muscles relaxed. In but a second, all of her pain was not only dulled, but had gone entirely.

"Wow," Rey said, relieved."Thank you. I didn't know that was possible."

Leia grinned. "Force healing can be handy, yes, though it does take a bit of energy to do, so you should use it judiciously. Let's hope you never have cause to do anything bigger than taking away a friend's cramps."

"Noted," Rey said, smiling.

"And do be careful." Leia looked over again at Finn and Poe, her tone becoming wistful. "A child isn't the only risk of falling for a charming young man."


End file.
